Taking care of a dwarfling
by zuppercat
Summary: Thorin gets a letter from Gandalf saying that there is a little dwarfling in the forest all by himself. They have to take him home. Follow the company as they go on a journey to take little Tyko home. Protecting him and taking care of him was something that came along with it. Kili and Fili can't get enough of his cuteness. (Without Bilbo sorry. With Thorin, Kili and Fili though.)
1. Chapter 1

**Hello my name is Sacha (even though my username is zuppercat) and I'm 16 years old and from Holland so I hope my English is a bit understandable. Well anyway, enjoy the story. ;) :p**

**Sorry if some things aren't right. Like Gandalf getting a vision. I don't know if he can do that. Or the names of things.**

**Summary: **It was 4 years after the battle had ended when Thorin got a letter from Gandalf saying that he'd had a vision of a little dwarfling called Tyko with white hair and green eyes. The boy had apparently been left behind in the forest (not on purpose) and now they had to take him home. Follow the company as they go on a journey to take little Tyko home. Protecting him and taking care of him was something that came along with it. Kili and Fili can't get enough of his cuteness. (Without Bilbo sorry. With Thorin, Kili and Fili though.)

It had been 4 years since the battle of the five armies (sorry I didn't know what else to call it). They had reclaimed Erebor and had said their goodbyes to Bilbo. (That was four years ago. The first part of the story is the moment after the battle and a few months afterwards.) It of course wasn't like they'd never see him again. The plan was to visit him every few years. Or the other way around of course.

Kili, Fili and Thorin had almost died, but thanks to Gandalf, Oin and some elves they survived. Nobody (except for Gandalf and Bilbo maybe) liked having to ask the elves for help. But they on the other hand knew they didn't have much of a choice and didn't say anything. They after all preferred having those three alive instead of..well..dead.

After months of recovery and rebuilding Erebor everything seemed to go smoothly. A lot of other dwarfs arrived from the blue mountains to come live in Erebor, including Dis. Which meant a lot of yelling and screaming. Thorin almost lost his hearing because of that. She calmed down soon enough though after hearing the princes were recovering smoothly and that Thorin had overcome his dragon sickness because of Bilbo. She was sad she couldn't thank the little hobbit though. He had after all done so much for them. kili and Fili had calmed her down after telling her that Bilbo had left with a smile on his face. He had also gotten part of the treasure even though he kept saying he didn't need it. He'd said hobbits didn't care much about treasures. Not that they'd listened to him. They said he _would _get part of the treasure, no matter what he said. In the end he'd given in and left after saying good bye and _with_ the treasure obviously.

It had been four years since then. Everyone had recovered and was working again. There hadn't happened much the last 4 years, until one day there was a special letter on Thorin's desk. A letter from Gandalf with surprising news.

Thorin's eyes had gone wide open from shock after reading the letter and had called everyone from the company to his office. (Except for Bilbo sorry. I really like him. But he's not part of this story. :( )

Every single one of them stood there feeling a bit uncomfortable. Why were all of them called here?! Had something happened?! They didn't know, but they sure would like to know as soon as possible.

They all stared at Thorin and waited until he would say something, which he luckily did after a few (long) seconds. "..There has been an accident..four years ago.." He started looking at a letter in his hand. "..accident..?" and "..four years ago..?" could be heard along the dwarfs. "..I got a letter from Gandalf saying he'd seen a vision about.. something that had happened four years ago without us knowing.. or.. realising.." Thorin said still looking at the letter in his hand which Gandalf had apparently written. Some whispers could be heard and then Kili suddenly said sounding worried and scared: "There hasn't happened anything to Bilbo right?!" The whispers went quiet and were replaced with silence. Everyone was looking at Thorin hoping he would say that that wasn't the case. "No, no, Bilbo is fine." Thorin said feeling a bit more relieved at the thought of Bilbo being ok. But still felt quite worried but mostly stupid for not knowing or noticing something happened to one of his people. It didn't matter if he didn't know them. There in the mean time could be heard some relieved sighs in the room. They were glad Bilbo was ok. They were still a bit afraid though. Thorin seemed to have calmed only a little bit after saying that Bilbo was fine and that that wasn't the problem. Now the question was: What wasgoing on?! What had happened that was so bad it made Thorin worry so much?!

"Tell us what's on your mind laddie. What happened four years ago?" Balin said trying to calm Thorin down and get some information at the same time.

"It was something that happened while the other dwarfs were traveling from the blue mountain to Erebor. They had been traveling for a while when they were attacked by a few Orcs. It was taken care of quickly enough. But not fast enough to save the lives of some innocent dwarfs." Thorin started telling them. This they knew of course. They had heard about it from Dis. Dis had told them they had quickly moved on not being able to bury the bodies because of the risk of having to face more Orcs. Luckily for them nothing had happened afterwards and they were able to continue traveling without any troubles. They'd arrived at Erebor a few weeks later.

"Why are you telling us this?" Bofur said not really understanding why they had to listen to the same (sad) story all over again. It was sad enough for the people who died and for the people who knew these people. Or rather dwarfs.

"Because.." Thorin answered looking up from his letter, "..there was someone left behind back then, without any of us knowing he was missing but still alive. And not just someone. A dwarfling who was only 8 years old (4 in human years) back then and probably 12 years old (6 in human years) by now." There fell a silence which followed with a lot of talking and questions. "A dwarfling?!" "So young?!" "Does that mean he's still alive?! How?!" "How could we not know about this?! This should have been noticed by at least someone, right?!" The last question was asked by Dwalin who looked just as mad, shocked and worried as all the others. Thorin just wanted to answer but Balin was faster and said: "Probably everyone who knew him had died..right?! There weren't many people who knew him I think. He was too young for that. At least that's what I think." Thorin just replied with a nod and said: "Gandalf didn't know about this until recently. He found out about it a while ago and send me this letter. He said it was probably for the best if we would go and fetch the boy. He can't continue living there like that. It's not safe for a little dwarfling. I'm quite surprised that he survived that long. We'll be going on a journey to bring him home. I'll be going with you. Dis will look out for the kingdom in the mean time. I already discussed this with her. We'll be leaving in 2 days. Understood?!" Everyone replied with some cheers and ran off to prepare for their journey. They were worried for the little dwarfling but exited at the same time. They were really looking forward to going on a journey again. Even Thorin had to admit that he was looking forward to it.

It was about two weeks later that they started asking questions about the little dwarfling. They had been traveling for a while now and were almost there. Well, it was actually Kili and Fili who started asking questions.

"So what's his name?" Kili started wanting to ask this question for a while. "Yeah, and what does he look like?!" Fili followed also wanting to know more. The rest of the company came closer wanting to know as well.

"His name is Tyko and he doesn't really have all the dwarfish looks yet. Like a beard and a lot of hair and stuff. He does have his own kind of looks. He for example has a lot of white hair on top of his head and wild green eyes. At least that's what Gandalf told me. I honestly don't know that much about him yet. His last name isn't known either. Just these little facts." Thorin said. "We'll just have to get to know him better then, right?!" Bofur said while Bombur nodded agreeing. "We can also teach him about a lot of stuff. He has missed a few years of learning after all." Nori said. "We just have to make sure _you _don't teach him anything Nori!" Someone said and everyone began to laugh.

It was a few hours later when they arrived at the forest where the dwarfling called Tyko was supposed to live. They got of their pony's and started walking while looking around for the little boy.

It was 10 minutes later and they still hadn't found him. What if he had died after all..? They hoped not. So they just continued looking for him. He should be around here somewhere, even if he was..dead.. They started calling his name hoping he would hear them. "Tyko!" "Tyko, where are you?!" "We're here to bring you home!" "Tyko!" "Tyko!"

#

In the mean time a young dwarfling with a lot of wild white hair and big and wild green eyes sat high in a tree. He'd woken up because he heard someone yelling. And not just yelling, they were calling his name and he had no idea why! He didn't know what they were or why they were here looking for him. Well, maybe that wasn't fair. He didn't even know what he was. He didn't know anything really. The only thing he knew was that his name was Tyko and that he'd lived here for quite a while already. Well, ok, ok, he knew more than that. He also knew that he was 12 years old (6 in human years) and that he had been living here since he was only 8 years old (4 years old). True, true, there were a lot of years before he came here. He just didn't remember them. The only thing he knew was that he'd woken up under a dead woman one day and that he couldn't remember much. Only little things like his age and his name. Somehow he knew that that dead woman was his mother but.. it wasn't like he was really sad about it. He didn't want to be mean to her but he just didn't remember her or any of the other..beings. (He had no idea what to call them. He didn't even know what he was for.. being..) Luckily for him he remembered some survival lessons even though he had no idea why he'd had to take it anyway. Maybe it was normal to take survival lessons..? He had no idea. Not that it really mattered. It was quite handy knowing how to make a fire without smoke (Why would he have to do it without the smoke anyway..? Ah well not that it really mattered. He just did as he was told. Not that he remembered the..beings that were teaching him.) Those survival lessons were probably why he had been able to survive for so long.

His clothes were way to big four years ago. Even though he had no idea why his clothes were so big in the first place, it was quite handy having clothes that fit. What if they were the right size back then. Then they wouldn't fit anymore and he'd have to grab some clothes of the dead beings. He didn't even want to think about it. It was just way to gross. He did wonder what would happen in the future. He would grow out of his clothes eventually after all. But on the other hand maybe he wouldn't even have to worry about that. There were strange beings on the ground calling for him saying things about going home. Maybe he was the same kind of being like them. That didn't sound so bad. Not bad at all. He didn't mean any harm by saying 'being' by the way. He just didn't have any other word to use for it. It was quite strange that he did remember his survival lessons but that he didn't remember what kind of being he was. Pretty strange.

Tyko looked down at the dwarves (Not that he knew they were dwarves) and decided it wouldn't hurt to scare them a little bit. He didn't know why but he really really really really wanted to scare them. Just for fun of course. He didn't want them to get a heart attack or anything. Just a little scare, that's all.

He jumped a few trees further until he was a few meters ahead of them. He'd learned to do that these four years by the way. Jumping from tree to tree. He could already climb them but jumping from tree to tree was still difficult for him back then. Now it wasn't a problem anymore though. Although, he was quite sure he'd learn it eventually if he hadn't been laying under his dead mother and out of sight. He didn't know why he knew it but he was sure that there were still others like him. He also knew that they'd left him behind but definitely not on purpose. As he was saying, he was laying under his dead mother and out of sight. So it wasn't that surprising that they hadn't seen him. How he'd gotten under his dead mother in the first place was a mystery to him. Or why she and the others were dead. He didn't get that either.

The strange beings had come closer by the way and had just stopped at the right spot. It was now or never. He jumped down and grabbed a branch of the tree at the bottom so he was hanging right in front of them. At the same time he screamed and got some screaming back as a response, at least from the few weird beings in front of him. Tyko laughed still hanging on the tree branch. This sure was funny. He'd never done something like this before and couldn't stop laughing because of it.

**At the same time with the dwarfs:**

They had just been walking and searching for the boy when he appeared right in front of them. He'd apparently jumped out of a tree and grabbed the lowest branch so he was hanging right in front of them. He screamed which gave him a few screams in response. Bombur and Bofur had been standing closest to the boy or back than the branch when it happened. They were 2 of the few who'd screamed while others just made surprised noises. They hadn't expected him to suddenly fall out of a tree. The boy which they assumed was named Tyko was laughing and still hanging onto the branch.

Now that they'd calmed down a bit they could finally focus on how he looked. His hair and eyes were indeed just as Thorin or maybe rather Gandalf said they looked. He was indeed still a very young dwarfling. He was really small after all. Maybe a bit too small. But that's probably because of him having to survive in the forest for so long. He was also rather skinny and pale, it didn't seem very healthy. It made them worry because dwarflings shouldn't be so skinny and pale. They always cared a lot about their dwarflings and always made sure they were healthy. But apparently it didn't happen with this one. And that.. that made them sad. Cause.. they really did care a lot for each other so they just couldn't stand it when something like this happens. Especially if it is a dwarfling.

He and his clothes were full of mud but luckily no blood. He was apparently not wounded. At least that was something to be relieved about.

Dwalin walked forwards and put the boy on the ground. Which he did more gently than you'd expect him to do. The boy stopped laughing and looked at each of them curiously. Thorin at the same time stepped forward and introduced each and every one of them. "You must be Tyko." Thorin said to the boy, who only nodded in response still feeling a bit overwhelmed and not really knowing what to do. Some of the others wanted to smack him on the head for saying it so.. well.. Thorin like.. But they decided against it because it _was _Thorin. Even though that didn't make any sense.

"We've come to bring you home!" Kili said grinning and Fili responded with the same big grin: "Back to Erebor!" They were now both sitting in front of little Tyko so that they were almost on the same height. Even then they were bigger than him, so small was he. Again all the dwarves were sighing and wanted to smack those two on the head just like they wanted to do with Thorin (Dwalin had done so already. He'd said that he could have scared the little Tyko. Even though that sounded a bit weird for Dwalin to say.) Now the princes could be scaring him. They should be more careful.

Kili and Fili were ruffling his hair when they suddenly frowned looked at each other and then back at Tyko and said: "I wonder if we can braid is hair. It's long enough but it's standing upwards instead of hanging down. Won't his braids stand up because of that to..?" Nobody knew an answer to that. They were trying to come up with an answer when Tyko suddenly said sounding confused: "Erebor? Braids?" "That's right every dwarf has braids. Maybe you didn't learn that yet but it is one of the most important things for a dwarf." Balin said calmly explaining it to Tyko. Tyko just looked confused and said: "What are dwarfs..?" Everyone just stared at him while he just looked confused. What..are..dwarfs.. echoed through their heads. Good question. They forgot about it for a few seconds as well. What are dwarfs anyway?! I mean it was just a simple question. He just asked what dwarfs were. He just asked... Just then it clicked. Dwarfs. He didn't know what dwarfs were. Oh no he didn't know what dwarfs were! Did that mean he didn't know anything?! Like anything at all?! What about the blue mountain?! Or anything else?! Don't panic, I repeat, _don't panic!_ We'll just have to explain everything to him. That's no big deal. We'll have time enough for it on our way back. No worries, no worries. Just like Nori said, we'll teach him everything. We'll just have to teach him a little bit more than we'd expected to do. They'd also have to get some more meat on his bones. And a bath maybe. They could braid his hair after the bath to. And don't forget that they'd have to get to know him better. Maybe this journey was going to be even more fun than they'd expected it to. They couldn't wait to get started. (Even though they had to admit that they had a panic attack for a few seconds 'twice')


	2. Chapter 2

It had taken a while, but after a lot of explanation Tyko finally remembered and understood what dwarves were and why they were here looking for him. He agreed to come with them to Erebor, not that he had that much of a choice. The dwarves would after all never leave him behind in the forest all by himself. They were still relieved that he decided to come by his own free will though. They didn't want to take him with them as a prisoner after all. That would be cruel.

It was a few hours later by now and they had already taken a liking to him. And the other way around of course. They had been riding on horses, planning to go to a small river nearby. Tyko could use a bath after all. Heck, he wasn't the only one. They had been wanting to find him as soon as possible so they hadn't stopped that much. Now they weren't in a hurry anymore so they could take their time. No one had told Tyko about the river. No one had said the 'bath' word. Why you ask?! Well, they knew how little dwarflings could be with baths all too well, not easy. They had developed a trick for it a long time ago though. It worked pretty well when the little ones had to take a bath in the river. But that would come later. They after all hadn't even arrived there yet.

#

Tyko was getting bored. He had been sitting on a horse (more like a pony) for hours already and they still hadn't stopped. Not that he really wanted to stop. He just wanted to do something fun. And that's why he started to look around, searching for something. Whatever that something was.

He looked around and spotted a piece of wood a few meters away on the ground. It looked just like the catapult he once had. His old one had broken so he needed a new one. He wouldn't survive without one, that was for sure. More like he wouldn't survive from boredom if he didn't do something right now. It was only the stick of his catapult that had broken, so fixing it shouldn't be much of a problem.

He thought for a second before he decided that hanging under his horse (pony) would be the easiest. At least...probably... Ah, well. It wouldn't hurt to try right?!

So that's what he did. After some struggling he was finally able to hang under his horse (pony) and wait until he came across the stick. Which happened soon enough. So now he was (still hanging under his pony) busy repairing his catapult. He was so concentrated that he didn't even notice what the dwarfs were doing.

The dwarfs in the mean time were panicking cause Tyko had disappeared. Someone had noticed that Tyko wasn't on his pony anymore and had started panicking which caused the others to ask what was wrong. That of course resulted in a complete chaos, cause no one had any idea where he'd gone. They were already imagining the worst. Even though it wasn't very likely something would have happened at that moment. Tyko had been riding in the middle of them and they had been riding in a forest that was as quiet as the wind. So it wasn't very likely something happened to him. But they couldn't think at that moment of course. Too much panic. They only snapped out of their panic streak when Bombur yelled: "There you are Tyko! What are you doing down there?" The others looked around searching for Tyko and spotted him hanging upside down from his pony. How they hadn't noticed him hanging there in the first place was a mystery to them. But why he was hanging upside down from his pony in the first place was even more of a mystery. So instead of looking confused at him for hours, they called his name a few times until they finally got his attention. He was apparently repairing his catapult. At least that what he told them after they'd helped him get back at the saddle again. Why he had been hanging upside down was something they still didn't understand. Even though he told them that the stick was laying on the ground and if he didn't do it like this he couldn't reach it. But instead of trying to explain that he could've done it a much easier way if he'd just gotten of his pony, they decided to just let it be and move on.

#

Days past and they got to know each other better and better. They'd really started taking a liking to the little dwarfling. Especially Kili and Fili. Those two were always playing with him and slept cuddled up with him every night. It was quite an adorable sight seeing those three sleeping and cuddled up with Tyko laying protectively in the middle of them. Those two weren't the only ones who were getting quite protective of Tyko. Everyone was really, even Thorin couldn't help but smile at the adorableness of Tyko and feel a need of protecting the little one because of it.

They had taught him a lot of other things as well. Like how important dwarfs hair and beards are. And the braids and beads that came along with it. This of course had caused for the question of: "If I'm a dwarf then why don't I have a beard? Cause you said that everyone has beards even the woman and children." That question went simply answered with that not everyone immediately get's beards. The two princes had had trouble with it as well. (Even though they kept denying it.) So that he didn't have to worry about it. It would happen eventually. Tyko had just nodded and decided that he too could wait a little bit longer. He wasn't sure how he would look with a beard after all. Maybe it looked really stupid. Maybe he would look like an old man because of his white hair if he got a beard. He didn't even want to think about it. No beard was fine for now.

#

Almost a week had passed since they found Tyko and had finally arrived at the river. Tyko's eyes flew wide open when he noticed why they were at a river. That meant he had to take a bath. No way! Really no way! And that's exactly the reason why Tyko climbed into the tree nearest to them hoping they didn't see him. Luck didn't seem to be on his side today though. Cause they _had_ noticed him climbing in a tree and were now making small signs to each other bringing the plan 'How to bath a dwarfling' in action.

The tree he was sitting in wasn't the best tree to climb in. More like the worst tree since all the branches were hanging above the water. Which meant that he too was hanging above the water. There was a big chance he would fall in the water. Yeah..that definitely wasn't smart..

Kili and Fili had apparently noticed it to cause they were now standing beside the tree grinning at each other. Tyko had seriously no idea why they were grinning like that, but he _did _know that it meant they were up to no good. Which meant trouble for him.

"1, 2, 3" Kili and Fili said slowly before shaking the tree as best as they could. It wasn't easy but definitely not impossible since the tree wasn't _that _thick.

Tyko tried to hold on as best as he could but ended up falling in the river eventually anyway. But instead of coming back up again to get some fresh air, he stayed underwater and swam up to Fili and Kili who were know standing on the side of the river laughing. He was now right in front of them but they didn't seem to notice. So he grabbed both of their ankles as quick as he could before pulling them into the river as well before coming back up again so he could breath..and laugh. The two princes pouted for a bit before grinning again and grabbing Tyko. They yelled something about bathing dwarflings and started to take Tyko's clothes of so he could get washed up. He at the moment was to surprised to do anything and just stood there with question marks above his head. The other dwarfs he noticed had apparently taking their clothes of already and were now standing in different places in the river. He honestly didn't get why they were standing on a lot of different places. It was also kind of strange that they seemed to be laughing as if they were about to do something really fun. Maybe they really like bathing..? But since he didn't know the answer he quickly dismissed it and focussed on what Fili and Kili were doing. They apparently were already done taking his clothes of and had just hung them up on a tree branch. Right now they were taking their own wet clothes of and started hanging them on tree branches as well before making a move to get back in again.

Tyko looked at the water and noticed a fish that wasn't that far away from him. He, getting interested, went underwater and followed the fish not knowing he was already caught in the game of the dwarfs. Above water were some calls saying: "Bofur, he's coming your way!" A few seconds past until bofur saw a naked little dwarfling following a fish not noticing he was very close to Bofur. Bofur waited for the perfect moment before grabbing the little one and pulled him above water. He started cleaning Tyko's right arm with soap as fast as he could before Tyko managed to get free from the soapy grasp and continued swimming underwater but then going in another direction. Bofur instead of yelling things about that he wasn't done cleaning him yet grinned and yelled at Dwalin that Tyko was coming his way now as if we was expecting it. Dwalin just nodded and grabbed Tyko when he was right in front of him. Tyko blinked surprised as he was pulled above water again for the second time to be cleaned with soap. The only thing was that it was Dwalin instead of Bofur this time. He didn't really understand it yet and stood there feeling a bit confused which Dwalin took the advantage of and started cleaning his face with soap. Tyko spluttered and disappeared under the water again just as Dwalin was done with washing his face.

This pattern kept going on. Tyko would get pulled above water when he was trying to swim away from the last dwarf that had tried to clean him. Something (a leg, an arm, his ears, his face) would get washed with soap until he would manage to break free and dive under water again. The others would scream things like: "He's coming your way, (name)!" and would start washing themselves in the mean time. Tyko notices what they were doing after it happened a few times and would try even harder to get away. But the dwarfs were apparently quite skilled at this and managed to grab him again and again easily. The dwarfs were clean by now and Tyko almost was. The only thing that was left was his hair. And that needed a bit more time to get washed up. So that could get hard. But luckily for them luck was on their side. It was Thorin's turn this time and he had grabbed him easily. Tyko, unlike the other times, didn't struggle when Thorin pulled him above water and proceeded to take him to a rock that was under water. Thorin sat the tired looking Tyko on the rock so that the water was now coming just below his chest and asked him if he could wash his hair. Hair was still something very dear to dwarves after all so they weren't going to wash his hair if he didn't want to. Although his hair did need to be cleaned. They didn't have to worry though since Tyko nodded his head sleepily before rubbing his eyes feeling quite exhausted.

So that's what Thorin did. He washed the young dwarflings hair carefully afraid that he might hurt him in any kind of way if he wasn't careful. And picked him up like a baby beginning to carry him to the others who were already fully dressed waiting at the sides of the river with a towel ready to take little Tyko over from Thorin. Thorin handed the barely awake Tyko to Balin who wrapped him in a towel and began drying him of since he was to sleepy to even make sense of what was happening.

Kili at the same time remembered something and asked: "Tyko, can we braid your hair when you're asleep?" Tyko nodded in response allowing them to braid his hair while Kili and Fili smiled brightly and watched, still smiling, as Tyko closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Balin handed the sleeping Tyko over to Dori who began putting his clothes on and handed the now dressed Tyko over to Fili who placed Tyko gently against Kili who was sitting against a tree so they could easily braid the sleeping Tyko's hair.

Tyko was still sleeping peacefully and laying against Kili's chest after they had dried his hair and were now braiding it carefully. At least Fili was breading his hear while Kili held Tyko so that he wouldn't fall down. A sleeping person (dwarf) can't stand or sit on his own without falling down after all.

After a few minutes Fili was done braiding Tyko's hair and was now looking at the braids carefully. He nodded feeling satisfied and made a motion with his hand to the other dwarfes. They to nodded in understanding and came closer trying to be as quiet as they could. Everyone smiled at the sight. Tyko had a few small braids in his hair who were now standing in all directions. You would expect the braids to hang down instead of standing straight up like all his other hair. They had a will of their own apparently cause his hair was just as wild as always. His braids ignored gravity and stood straight up going in all directions just like the rest of his white hair. Tyko in the mean time was still sleeping peacefully while laying against Kili chest who was now gently playing with his hair. Everyone smiled again and went to set up camp as quietly as they could not wanting to wake him up. Thorin to was being as quiet as he could while giving orders. Kili stayed where he was not wanting to wake Tyko and kept playing with his hair which was surprisingly soft. Tyko in response grabbed Kili's shirt tightly while mumbling something about dwarfs being unfair and continued sleeping peacefully. Kili chuckled and kept stroking Tyko's hair while holding an arm around him protectively.

Everyone went to sleep shortly after that and continued their way back to Erebor the next morning while Tyko was admiring his braids. "Do you like them?" Fili said while playing with Tyko's braids. (He was riding next to him) Tyko nodded happily in response and frowned a bit when everyone from time to time would play with his hair. (even Thorin and Dwalin :O) He honestly didn't get what was so different about his hair except for the braids maybe. Even he had to admit that they were really cool, but to pet his hair for it..? That he found strange. Not that he really minded though. He actually quite liked it and slightly leaned into the touch when someone would play with his hair. The others would then chuckle in response and keep petting his hair.

If possible, their bonds were even stronger than before. Strange thing, bathing. Maybe he wouldn't mind bathing so much right now anymore. It definitely had been a good choice to come with them. He wondered what would happen next. He hoped something fun.

** # **

**I'm planning to do something with them being captured and Tyko getting hurt in the process. **

**It would be something like: Tyko getting hurt and captured and then the dwarfs would scream and get upset cause they couldn't protect him. The dwarfs would (maybe) get captured as well and save poor Tyko. Or maybe Tyko while being gravely wounded would escape and free the dwarfs. And then escape together. **

**Something like that. I don't know yet. We'll see. ;p Bye see ya next time! :) :p**


	3. Chapter 3

It was the evening after the bath and they hadn't done much more than traveling. Tyko didn't know how much further it was but it sure did take a while. Not that he really minded though. He appreciated the company. He had always been alone before after all. So traveling with dwarfs wasn't so bad.

There was one thing he didn't get though. And that was the weird liquid they drank every evening. The drink was apparently called dwarf beer. Whatever that was. It also had some weird effects. Like when they drank a little bit of it there wouldn't happen anything but.. Well let's say the drink had some sort of rule apparently. (The dwarfs definitely invented that rule!) The rule was that you were supposed to act normal when you only drank a little bit of it and that you were supposed to act really weird if you drank more of it.

Like, you had to make your face red. But only across the nose and cheeks. (How they did that was a mystery to him.) And then you had to chose between a few characters. Most of the dwarfs always chose for the role of being extremely happy. While others chose for the role of being mad/bossy. But then again.. Everyone always had to play the role of an idiot at the same time. (He knew that because they would always act really stupid. Happy or mad. That didn't matter.) Most dwarfs would always play the same role. Kili and Fili would always play the happy role for instance. But even they played the role of the idiot at the same time. If you played the happy role you were supposed to laugh a lot. Like really a lot! And when you played the mad/bossy role you were supposed to complain a lot. Like a lot! You were supposed to play your role better and better the more liquid you drank. And after you drank a lot they always fell asleep. He quested playing the roles was tiring.

And that was just one of the rules.

You were also supposed to throw a lot of things. Like cups or something. Sometimes they would even throw each other. He didn't get why they threw each other but.. maybe that was one of the rules to. The more dangerous the better. (They threw their weapons to.)

There were a lot of small rules but the main rule held them all together. That was the rule of acting like an idiot. That rule was in the character rule as well so it must be important. Everyone listened to that rule and he had to say that they did it quite well.

Like that one time when Bombur tried to put as many breads in his mouth as possible. He had to know that that wasn't possible. (I mean come on! There were like 100 pieces of bread!) But then again, that must be the exact reason why he did it. He failed really bad after all. That's why he managed to play the role of the idiot so well. He could've done better though. Normally he would be amazed by Bombur being able to put 68 breads in his mouth, but if he was playing the role of the idiot he should've done less bread than that. But it on the other hand did look very stupid when all the pieces of bread almost fell out of his mouth. So maybe he did a pretty good job after all. Bombur he noticed was playing the happy role that time cause he was laughing really hard at the end of it. And the others at the same time were playing the role of the happy character very well as well. Although they only managed to hold it for a minute or two before they went back in their own role again. That was quite disappointing. They did well but could've done better. Much better.

There was also that one time when Thorin decided he needed a new crown and said Kili and Fili had to make it. They came back after a few minutes with something that looked like mud combined with leaves and some other weird stuff. Kili and Fili then placed it on Thorin's head and he in response began some kind of speech which he only understood half of. Something about kings and shitty elves. Whatever that word meant. The others would cheer loudly after each sentence and went totally wild when he was done. Thorin played his role very well. He'd never seen someone act so stupid before. He was also amazed by their acting abilities after the speech was done. The other dwarfs after all acted really stupid as well. They also didn't ignore the rule of throwing things. (Or dwarfs.) That he found very well done as well. Yeah they really did a good job on that one.

But you know, there were even more rules.

Like the rule of acting annoyed and grumpy the first 3 hours of the morning after. It was also part of the rule that you weren't supposed to talk much those three hours. (Maybe because their throats hurt from talking, screaming and laughing so hard the last evening/night.) Oh and what about the 'holding their heads' part. Cause they would do that every 5 minutes in the morning. They'd also groan and mumble something at the same time. He tried hearing what they said before but never succeeded.

It really was strange that one of the rules was being annoyed the first three hours of the morning.

It was also strange that you were supposed to forget everything you did the last night. Well, probably more like pretending to forget. Cause why would and how could you really forget. He didn't get why though. Cause that was part of the reason Bombur didn't feel to good one day and didn't know why. And also why Thorin was yelling at everyone one morning cause he wanted to know who and why someone put mud and leaves in his hair. He still didn't know if Thorin was just being fair by following the rules so well or if he was being unfair for yelling at everyone. (It was his own fault after all. Even if Kili and Fili put the muddy crown in his hair it had still been him who suggested it. I mean come on! He was the one talking about kings and shitty elves. Again, whatever that word means.)

But one rule, one rule was really unfair. Like really mean! He didn't get why that rule even existed. He was sure as hell that that rule didn't exist before he came! Cause that was because his name was in that rule! The rule was that HE wasn't supposed or allowed to drink any of the dwarfs beer. Don't you think that's unfair?! You're right maybe he wouldn't be able to play his role all too well and maybe he wouldn't be able to follow the rules because of it. And yeah maybe you were supposed to take lessons for it first and practice a lot. But still! They could've just taught him then. He wouldn't be the best at it, more like the worst, but if he wasn't even allowed to try the dwarf beer game than how would he ever be able to play?! This rule just didn't make any sense.

And that's exactly why he decided to steal some dwarf beer and try it for himself. He had thought about it a bit before he came to a conclusion that it was the best to do it early in the morning. Like two hours before they woke up or something. He would just practice a bit before he would be allowed to participate one day. Cause they must have some kind of reason why he wasn't allowed to take part of it. Maybe the reason and rule was that you were supposed to learn it yourself and practice in secret instead of learning it from others. He had to say that it did make a lot of sense. It would be too easy if he learned it from others after all. It wouldn't be fun either.

The longer he thought about it the more sense it made. The dwarfs hadn't even explained the game to him. No tips or tricks. Nothing. And he in the mean time had figured the whole game out by himself. Maybe they were trying to learn him the game after all. But by seeing instead if explaining. It made even more sense now. They had been busy playing the dwarf beer game every night just for him. Just so that he could learn the game. That really was nice of them. He wondered if the other dwarflings had to learn it like this to. Probably.

But now that he understood the rules of the game he'd better go and practice in secret as soon as possible! It would be cruel of him to let the dwarfs play this game every night just for him.

So that's what he did. He stood up before the others and looked around for some dwarf beer.

He had to say that he was impressed, they had even been so kind to leave three bottles of dwarf beer just for him. That would definitely be enough dwarf beer to practice with. Now he just had to find a good place to hide while practicing.

Tyko looked around for a few minutes before he spotted some bushes a few meters further. It wasn't that far away, but it was not a bad hiding spot. They would probably be able to see him if they looked around a bit. He could've searched for a better hiding spot but decided against it since he didn't have to be perfect in it yet.

So now Tyko was taking his first few mouthfuls of dwarf beer while staying hidden in the bushes as good as he could. He had to say it tasted awful. Probably one of the rules.

He had to say that the first rule wasn't so hard. That was the 'staying normal' part. That was quite easy really. The harder part would come soon enough though. He still had no idea how to do that. This was going to be harder than he thought it would be.

#

Luckily for Tyko there was no such game in the first place. He just didn't know that that were the effects of dwarf beer or rather alcohol. He already forgot what he was doing in the first place after half a bottle of dwarf beer. Now the rest of the dwarf beer.

It was two hours later when the dwarfs woke up. Tyko had drank the three bottles of dwarf beer a long time ago already and was really really really drunk right now. Not that they knew that. Heck Tyko himself didn't even know.

It didn't take long for everyone to realise that there were a few things missing. Tyko and the three bottles of dwarf beer that they'd forgotten to put in their bags were gone. First there had been a lot of yelling and screaming before Balin finally suggested that it would be better to just search for Tyko instead.

It took a while but after a few minutes of searching they finally found him sitting in the bushes with three empty bottles of dwarf beer beside him. They went a bit pale when they saw that it was their fault he was drunk right now and started to cut away the branches so that they could see him better and he them.

The first few minutes they all just stared at the little drunk Tyko who was swaying a bit and looking very very drunk. After two minutes Tyko noticed all those dwarfs staring at him and stared back before grinning and saying: "You're all 'hic' purple! Looks 'hic' funny!" Tyko started laughing in a very drunk kind of way while the other dwarfs just sighed. Maybe they shouldn't drink that much anymore. They didn't know you could act this weird and strange because of it. It also would've been better if they'd explained the effects of dwarf beer to Tyko in the beginning.

So yeah it was their own fault that they had to listen to a drunk Tyko for hours. It was cute at first but got rather embarrassing later on when Tyko would bluntly explain everything the dwarfes did while they were drunk. When someone would try to stop Tyko from talking so that he didn't have to hear their own embarrassing drunken story any longer there would always be a few who'd stop him cause they did want to hear about it. And that's how Bombur finally understood why he didn't feel well that day and also why everyone wouldn't stop laughing when they heard the story about Thorin's speech and mud crown. Everyone laughed except for Tyko who was still drunk and telling the story while he had no idea that he was doing so and Thorin of course whose face was bright red. No one knew if it was from embarrassment, anger or both. And they didn't dare to ask.

After a few hours Tyko fell asleep and they had time to progress what they had just been told. (It was rather embarrassing.) And again a few hours later Tyko woke up again with a huge headache and a really bad mood. Now they also knew what Tyko had to deal with almost every morning and again decided to drink less in the future.

The next day they explained everything about alcohol and Tyko in response told them what he thought it was at first. They in response felt even more stupid for not telling him sooner and decided that they should drink even less than before. Just a few times a week maybe. Maybe even less. And maybe make sure that they didn't get to drunk so that they could actually stand and protect Tyko when someone attacked. They had been lucky it hadn't happened before.

They had been lucky for a while and wondered how long it would last. There were some dangerous places ahead of them after all. They had to be really careful or else who knows what would happen. It had been to quiet for a while now. They had to look out cause it could get dangerous from now on.

#

**I was planning to do the other plan, but came up with this chapter and decided to do this one first. No worries, I'll do the other plan (see the end of the last chapter)** **as well. **

**If you got any good ideas for that I'd love to hear about it. Cause I'm not sure how I should do that yet. **

**Captured or attacked? Captured by who/ attacked by who? What will happen?! Any other ideas?**

**Please comment if you have a good idea. **

**See ya later alligator :p **

**zuppercat**


	4. Chapter 4

The peace indeed hadn't lasted long. A lot had happened and well.. they got into some trouble along the way. But to see what happened, we have to go back in time a bit.

# #

It was lunch time when they were sitting against the trees relaxing a bit. It wasn't often that they could just sit and do nothing for a while. Thorin had his eyes closed while sitting against a tree. The other dwarfes to were sitting against trees relaxing and were looking around lazily.

"By the way, where is Tyko?" Gloin asked looking around a bit. "He should be somewhere up there, I think." Bofur replied pointing and looking up at the trees. "..Yeah, but where..?" Dori now said also looking up at the trees. Everyone except for Thorin (Who still had his eyes closed) was now looking up at the trees. "Shh, listen." Balin said looking at a specific point in the trees. The others followed his gaze where they heard some leaves rustle. The sound moved from the far right to a few trees further on the left. It was quiet for a few seconds before there finally could be heard some sounds again, a lot of sound. They honestly had no idea what was happening. The only thing they knew is that it was Tyko. But.. the rest..

Back to Tyko a few minutes ago.

He had honestly no idea what to do. It was lunch time and they would go and eat lunch soon, but decided to rest and relax a bit first. They had been traveling for a long time already and still had a long way to go. Resting was ok, but this was just taking too long. That's why he had gone up a tree and had been looking around to find something fun to do ever since. He hadn't found anything though.

Until now that is. There was a hole in a tree a bit further. Who knows what was in there. Maybe food or treasure. There could also be a lot of insects in there. If there were insects in there he could go and prank someone. Maybe Nori would help him. Yeah, Nori would definitely help him. He would have to make sure that no one would know or notice though. Fili and Kili could help to. But the thing he really had to look out for was Thorin. He liked Thorin. Thorin was nice and cared greatly for him, but that didn't mean it would be a good thing if Thorin discovered what they were doing. Although he wasn't even sure if there actually were insects in there. There could also be an animal of some sort in there. Maybe that was even better.

Ah well, whatever was in there, he was going to find out what. And that's that.

Slowly, step for step, tree by tree. He was getting closer and barely made a sound. Just a little bit maybe, but not much.

When he was about a tree branch away he stopped, making sure to make not a single sound.

The hole was dark but he was able to see what was inside of it much clearer now that he was closer to the tree. He slowly, while being as silent as he could, made his way to the tree hole until he was standing right in front of it. He, of course, made sure that he couldn't be seen from inside the hole.

You at first would think that there were only leaves and small sticks inside of the hole. But when you took a closer look you could see a little squirrel sitting at the bottom. The hole wasn't so big and he was sure he could grab the squirrel in no time if he wanted to. So.. that's what he did.

He reached into the tree hole and grabbed the squirrel by its tail. He was thinking about lunch. They could eat the squirrel for lunch you know. The lazy dwarfs were too lazy to go get some lunch after all. He rolled his eyes at the thought while smiling a bit as well. The squirrel on the other hand wasn't smiling one bit. Not that you could see that. Tyko was sure that if squirrels could talk he or she would be cursing in ten languages at the same time by now. Now that would be impressing. He shouldn't focus on that right now though. The squirrel was making a lot of shrieking and peeping noises while trying to break free. And he or she (Tyko decided to call the squirrel a he) did manage to break free after some more struggling and biting in Tyko's hand in the progress. "Ow!" Tyko said and let the squirrel go, who in response immediately ran to the next tree. "Oy! Get back here!" Tyko said following the squirrel. They were now running from tree to tree in circles and were making a lot of noise.

Back to the dwarfes again.

It was quiet for a bit until they heard some shrieking and peeping noises which followed with an "Ow!" and a "Oy! Get back here!"

After that there were a lot of sounds and noises coming from all directions as if he was running in circles. And maybe something else was running in circles to. That they didn't know. They could only look up at the trees following the sound until it stopped in the tree above Thorin who still had his eyes closed but who was definitely listening.

Tyko:

He had finally caught that stupid squirrel after what seemed like hours of running (It was only a few minutes) and was now standing high up in the trees with a squirrels tail in one hand while his other hand poked the poor squirrel in his belly. He just wanted to know what a squirrel would feel like. He had seen many in the forest before when he was still alone but had never caught one. So he was pretty proud he had finally caught one. And since the squirrel had been annoying and had bitten him they were definitely going to eat him. Although he couldn't help but feel a little bit sorry for the guy. He dismissed the feeling soon enough and started to climb down the tree until he was on the branch above and slightly in front of Thorin. He hung upside down the tree branch and held the squirrel in front of Thorins face. The squirrel would've scratched him if he didn't look so intimidating.

Thorin opened his eyes and looked a bit surprised at the squirrel and then smiled amusedly at the now grinning Tyko. Tyko's white hair was hanging upside down and his hair and his braids with beads were standing in all directions. Wilder then that it normally looked. He worriedly noticed that Tyko's hand was bleeding before deciding that Tyko would be fine if they treated him as soon as possible. Then the wound wouldn't get infected. They just had to clean the wound before it could get any worse.

"I got us some lunch!" Tyko said while grinning and holding up the squirrel as best as he could while hanging upside down.

The other dwarfes were laughing at Tyko's actions while Thorin stood up and put Tyko down on the ground. "You better get to Oin before your wound get's infected." Thorin said still smiling amusedly but with a glint of worry in his eyes. Tyko nodded before saying: "Yeah, but I'll need to give the squirrel too Bombur first." Thorin nodded and Tyko ran off not noticing he ran over some weird looking ground. The others apparently hadn't noticed anything until the ground under Tyko's feet gave in and he gave a surprised shriek startling everyone.

Tyko could see a lot of shocked and worried faces who were all running towards him. He also heard some "TYKO!" "TYKO!" "TYKO!"

The last thing he saw before the hole closed again was the squirrel who now had a chance to escape and who was disappearing into the bushes at the moment. He strangely enough couldn't help but feel a bit relieved at seeing the squirrel get away.

He needed to be careful next time. The others were probably cursing by now. No, he really had no idea what would happen next. He didn't even know who had captured him in the first place.

Just then his eyes flew wide open as he hit something hard and darkness hit him.

A trap, how stupid.

**Aaaand now you'll just have to wait for the next chapter! Hehe sorry. :p**

**Tyko's fallen into a trap. But who's trap?! Who captured him?! What made him go unconscious?! Will the wound on his hand get infected now that it couldn't get disinfected?! What will the dwarfes do?! Will they get captured to?! What'll happen next?! Who knows. :p**

**You can still bring in suggestions if you have any. I'll try to update the next chapter as soon as possible. Sorry for the short chapter but this seemed like the perfect time to stop. :p Fun for me, not so much for you. I also didn't have any time left. So that's also part of the reason I had to stop writing. (It's getting late and I have to get up early tomorrow) :p **

**By the way: Am I writing dwarfes right..? Or is it: dwarves or dwarfs? Please tell me XD I don't know! :p**

**Anyway see ya next chapter! :)**

**Bye, bye!**

**zuppercat**


	5. Chapter 5

The first thing Tyko knew when he woke up was that he was feeling awful. His whole body hurt, especially his hand and head. Oh what did his head hurt. He also noticed, when he sat up, that he was feeling extremely dizzy. Probably because of his head.

He was apparently sitting behind some rocks and out of sight cause he heard some strange creatures talking nearby. And by the sound of it, they hadn't noticed him. (He, after looking at them carefully, decided that they were goblin's. They matched Balin's description perfectly.) The goblin's were talking about how they had caught the dwarves a week ago. Wait, they caught the dwarves?! That didn't make any sense though. Cause he was caught first. No wait, maybe that's not right. Falling into a hole/trap didn't mean he had to get caught. If he was, he would've been sitting in some sort of prison right now. But then again.. how did the dwarves get caught anyway?! Maybe they fell into a hole/trap as well. Probably. And he had to say that it wasn't that weird he wasn't caught. He was after all quite small and had apparently fallen behind these huge rocks, that's why they hadn't noticed him and why they hadn't thrown him into some sort of prison as well.

He hoped they were okay though. But he at the same time knew they were just fine. They were all very strong and probably still together. At least he hoped they were.

Speaking about health, he didn't feel well at all! His head hurt so bad he was almost sure of it that his head could and would explode any minute now. His hand wasn't doing very well either. The squirrel bite looked absolutely horrible being infected and all. He quested his head was in the same state if not worse.

Tyko, deciding to check how bad his head wound actually was, moved his good hand slowly and carefully to his head and touched it. He, feeling a horrible pain, quickly pulled away and looked shocked at his now red hand. He hadn't touched his head that long and definitely not hard, but it still hurt quite a lot. He didn't know how big his head wound was, but he did know that it was bigger than his hand and that it hurt a lot.

He was also quite sure he didn't have any white hair left. All his hair was soaked after all. Obliviously with blood. It wasn't like there was any water near him and his red hand was proof enough really. That also meant that not only his hair was full of blood but that his face had had some drops as well. Well..probably more than that. He could even feel the blood on his face. It was still rolling down as tears would do. And..it tickled! Like a lot! And that's exactly why he was rubbing his face with his good hand for a while until it didn't itch anymore. He instantly regretted it. Now his face was full of blood. Great, he must look like a zombie now. His hand was still red but not that wet anymore since he had smeared all the blood on his face. And then he also shouldn't forget the blood drops that were already on his face. He had to say that he didn't expect to react more stupid than that he just did but.. he did. He'd tried to get the blood of by rubbing his face against his shirt. That definitely didn't help. It, again, looked even worse! Now three things were red: His good hand, his face and his shirt. And then we shouldn't forget about the parts where he actually had wounds! Like his head and hand for instance.

He suddenly stopped his thoughts as something hit him. Not literally though. More like he remembered something the goblin's had said. They said that the dwarves had been caught a week ago. A week! That meant he had been laying here on the rocks unconscious for quite a while already. Great, just great! That also meant that the dwarves hadn't escaped yet. But knowing them, they were already thinking of a plan to escape. Maybe he could help. Just finding them was already a way to help. It would take quite some time if they had to find him first. That's why he would find them. He should find something to cover himself up though. It wouldn't help much if he would get thrown into prison after all.

He had to say that being short came in handy for once. He was about the same length as the smallest goblin's. He would blend in this way. Well sort of. Goblin's didn't wear things like cloaks, so he would still need to hide behind rocks and stuff so that he wouldn't get caught. The brown cloak (he'd just found one.) would at least blend in with the rocks a bit. Better than his white hai-, no wait red hair. Ah well it wouldn't really matter which one. Both of them are spotted to easily.

He crawled on his hands and knees from rock to rock trying to stay as silent as he could while also trying to stay somewhat invisible. That meant staying behind the rocks and hoping that the goblin's didn't see him.

He was crawling like this for a while until his hand and especially knees began to hurt. Maybe it was better to walk after all. He was small so they wouldn't spot him, right..? At least not so easily he hoped.

It was about a few hours later when he began to walk slower and slower. Not that he was walking fast at first. No, he was actually walking as slow as possible, _even though it wasn't entirely on purpose_, because he was feeling so extremely dizzy. He sometimes couldn't even help but sway a bit. He wasn't quite sure if he was feeling dizzy and swaying because of his head wound or if it was because of a fever. Did he actually have a fever in the first place?! Maybe he did cause he started feeling a bit drowsy and blurry just a few seconds ago. It was quite confusing cause it could also be much more complicated than he thought it was at first. Think about it. What if he was swaying because he was feeling dizzy, dizzy because his eyes were blurry, blurry because his eyes were bad and that's why the conclusion and solution was that he needed glasses. Wait..what..?! Right.. Let's start over again. Maybe he was feeling drowsy because he just needed to sleep. That sounded pretty good actually. Sleep. A bed. Soft. Comfortable. No, no, no, he shouldn't do that. Definitely not. No sleeping. He'd just slept for a week maybe even longer. If he needed something than it was his friends. The dwarves. He needed to find them. So that meant he had to keep walking, no matter what. Even though it was getting harder and harder to do. Even though he knew that he was never ever going to find them. Like ever.

It was quite some time later again. He had no idea how much time had passed. The only thing he knew was that he was feeling awful. The worst thing was that he was feeling lonely and sad. He was never going to find them. Never. He had been walking like this forever and was quite lucky that he hadn't been spotted by any of the goblin's yet. Yes, yet. He could still be discovered. And the chances of him getting discovered were getting higher and higher by the minute. He was quite sure he had a fever by now. Standing or rather walking had never been this hard. He'd almost think that he'd drunk some of that alcohol stuff again if he didn't know for a 100% that he hadn't done so. Not to forget that he was ice cold one minute and as hot as who knows what the other. Sweating 10 liters an hour (Even though he didn't meant it literally) wasn't something he'd expected either. It only made him more exhausted if you asked him. Yeah, he definitely had a fever. At least, he thought he had. Oin had described some things about fevers, infections and other stuff once, but he couldn't remember everything that well. Not to mention that his head was a bit to foggy to think straight. It was getting so foggy by now that he could barely make out his surroundings and started to feel even more dizzy because of it. That's why he was sitting behind one of the rocks by now. He just couldn't go on anymore. He didn't even know where he was anymore. Or rather, he knew that he was with the goblin's, just not why. He was also quite sure of it that the dwarves were never going to find him. That was just impossible. He had been walking for hours and he still hadn't found them. So yeah, there was just no way that they were going to find him. Not a chance.

He didn't even notice the wet trails of tears on his cheeks until a tear dropped on his good hand. Since when had he been crying? Since when hadn't his hands moved? Why could he barely move anyway? It felt as if he barely had any control left in his body. He would cry if he wasn't crying already. And that's why he instead decided to sing a song. He didn't know where he remembered it from, but he did know it was a bit of a sad song. He also didn't know what the song was about. He'd never understood the song really. The only thing he knew was that it always helped a bit when he felt lonely. And since he had been with the dwarves for quite a while already.. he hadn't been singing this song, not once. Maybe the song was from his mom or his dad or maybe from all the dwarves. He didn't know, nor care much. The only thing he knew was that he really wanted to sing this song right now. Even it was only to calm his nerves down. Didn't matter if it was only for a little bit. It felt as if this song was his only hope.

_(Let the river in – radical face)_

_You, beneath the bed, I know all your tricks_

_I've seen you watching_

_I've seen you drifting away_

_I've seen you floating along_

_I've seen you disappear_

_Now, there ain't a cloud in sight_

_And through the snow and the branches_

_I can count all your teeth_

_Now the bed's on fire and the ceiling's gone_

_And your mom and dad still sing the same old song_

_Don't scare me off now, I'm your only friend_

_Don't scare me off now, I'm your only friend_

_But now you're drifting away_

_Now you're floating along_

_And soon you'll disappear_

_I closed my eyes and saw my father's sins_

_They covered me like a second skin_

_I peeled them off, and sure I bled a bit_

_But now I'm free to sink my own damn ship_

_I cut my branch down from my family tree_

_To start a fire in the living room_

_Now the house is just ash, this time it's sink or swim_

_Let the river in_

_If blood is thinker than water _

_Then let the river in_

_We might drift a ways, but we've got thick skin_

_Let the river in_

_If blood is thicker than water_

_Then let the river in_

_We might drift a ways, but we'll find our way again_

_(Let the river in – radical face)_

Just when he was singing the last sentence of the song he heard something. It sounded like a lot of people were running towards him. Oh no, what did he do. Now he was captured for sure. There was only a little chance that he would be found to begin with and now all chances were lost for sure. It was hopeless. He was doomed for sure. He would never see his friends again. There was just no way, even though he desperately wanted to. He wanted to see them again, but now all hope was lost.

He was found, found by the goblin's. That's one thing he was sure of. All hope was lost now. And just at that moment his vision went black. He had passed out. Unconscious.

**End chapter! **

**Sorry that it took so long. A deadline week combined with laziness I think. xD I'll try to upload the next chapter sooner next time. **

**There isn't much to tell about the song really. I only know half of the meaning and I do know that it doesn't or barely has anything to do with this story. **

**This part of the story needed the song so he would be found. Now it is the question if he has been found by the dwarves or the goblin's. I already know, but you don't. :p Haha. It was just a song that was stuck in my head really, so I used this one for it. You can search it up if you want to, but you don't have to. **

**If you have any fun ideas or you just really like something about the story than I would love to hear about it. Questions or other things are welcome as well of course.**

**I hope you liked my story and I'll see you in the next chapter. **

**Bye :)**

**zuppercat**


	6. Chapter 6

**A week ago:**

Tyko had just fallen into a trap and they were freaking out by now. Some screamed his name and tried to open the trap even though they knew it was pointless.

Thorin cursed and said: "Damn, goblin's."

Everyone was standing around the trap right now trying to open it until they realised their mistake. "Oh, shit." Said Bofur before they to fell down into a different and much bigger trap. What they didn't know is that they went in a completely different direction than the way Tyko went.

"Ugh"

"%# $%&^%$" Cursed Thorin.

"Get off me Bombur! You're heavier than a mountain dammit!" Yelled Bofur who was under Bombur at the moment.

"It's not that bad laddies. Remember when we were here last time. There is no heavy goblin king we have to deal with at the moment, right?!" Said Balin who was already standing.

"Nothing heavy my ass." Bofur mumbled or rather grumbled.

"Dammit Bombur just get up already!" Bofur said again. (He isn't being mean. It always goes like this right?!)

"Ah, sorry." Bombur said and stood up. Immediately a few relieved sighs could be heard. Followed with a few popping noises. (Their bones. I hope you know what I mean cause I can't explain it better than this. :p)

"Where are we anyway?" Dwalin said looking around carefully.

"In some kind of prison it seems. We should be able to get out though. The prisons aren't that strong here." Thorin said looking around carefully.

A long sigh could be heard before Balin said: "..I was afraid that this would happen. This is going to be harder than we thought."

"What do you mean Balin?!" Thorin said not getting what he meant.

"Look around. Aren't we missing someone?!" Balin said raising one of his eyebrows. The others stopped whatever they were doing and looked around carefully before their eyes shot wide open.

"Tyko!"

"Exactly. That means he ended up somewhere else. He could be in another prison. Who knows where he is. Getting out of this prison won't be that hard, finding Tyko is another matter. Not to forget that he is all alone right now, completely venerable that is. It won't be an easy task. But we all know we have to do it anyway." Balin said.

"We won't leave without him." Thorin stated. Everyone cheered until they realised that that probably wasn't such a good idea. Immediately shouts and footsteps could be heard. "Goblin's, great!" Someone said sarcastically, clearly not happy with it.

It was about five days later and there had been a lot of cheering for the goblin's and groaning for the dwarfs. They didn't really do anything except for cheering and yelling. It seemed like all the goblin's didn't have anything better to do cause it really did look like every damn goblin had visited them by now. How many of those monsters were there anyway?! Normally they would've forced their way out but since they didn't know where Tyko was they couldn't do that. There were so many goblin's that the only way out would be running as fast as they could. And if they wanted to find Tyko first they needed to be way more careful. So yeah they were glad when after six days the goblin's finally got bored of them. (I needed so much time to pass since Tyko had been unconscious for a week.)

"Finally!" Dwalin said and they all forced their way out of prison. They looked around carefully and sighed with relief when they didn't see a single goblin. Now that was a relief. Now they just had to find Tyko and get out of here.

Ok, so that was harder than they thought. They had been searching for hours now and there was still no sign of him. They were sure they had looked in every prison by now. So where was he?!

"So.. how many hours have we been searching by now..?" Said Nori.

"Don't know. You tell me." Bofur said. But even though they all sounded annoyed, they were actually quite worried about Tyko. If he wasn't in any of the prisons than where else could he be?! They were all talking until Balin heard something and said: "Shh, quiet." "Wha.. why?!" "Just quiet. Listen. Do you hear that?!" Everyone felt silent and listened. They raised their eyebrows when they indeed heard something. What was that? It sounded like.. It sounded like a voice. A child's voice.. and it was singing something. Wait a second, that was.. "Tyko!" They all said and started running to whatever that place was they heard the sound from. They finally found him. Finally.

They followed the sound of the voice and were surprised how sad but beautiful it sounded. Why was he sad..? Because he was lonely maybe..? Well, they were coming, so he didn't have to worry anymore. They'd make sure he smiled again. That was something they were sure of.

Just when they were coming closer the song ended and the sound of a small body falling sideways could be heard. They ran to the place where they thought Tyko was as fast as they could. Just when they reached Tyko goblin footsteps and yells could be heard. They found out they escaped and were closing in on them. And it weren't just one or two goblin's that were coming. No probably thousands of them. And that wasn't a good sign.

"Kili, grab Tyko. We're getting out of here. We can't stay here a minute longer." Yelled Thorin and everyone started running. Kili grabbed Tyko not really thinking about anything else but getting out of here and started running as well. They'd been in such a hurry that they didn't even notice that Tyko wasn't in such a great condition at the moment.

Kili was running at the back with Fili a few meters in front of him. The others were running as well somewhere in front of Fili. No one bothered looking back and just focused on getting out of the caves as fast as they could. They had nothing to worry about once they were out in the sun after all. But for now they were still in the dark so running was their only option right now really.

Outside! They were outside finally! I felt as if it was ages ago that they'd seen the sunlight. They still kept running for a bit so that they could be sure that it was safe for them to stop.

Kili frowned when he felt something wet on his arm. He looked down at his arm and was shocked when he saw what was the source of it. Tyko was wearing a brown coat (No one had realised it yet) and almost nothing of him was visible. They'd somehow knew it was Tyko but that was all really. No one had realised Tyko was hurt. No one had even thought about it. They were so busy with escaping that they hadn't taken a good look on Tyko. The coat had a lot of blood around the head area and that wasn't such a good sign. His eyes were still wide of shock and worry and could only stare at Tyko for a good few minutes before finally realising it wasn't such a good idea to stay quiet about this. He needed to tell the company so that they'd stop somewhere and quick. Tyko needed to be treaded as fast as possible.

"Thorin!" Kili shouted and Thorin looked back with raised eyebrows. "We better stop somewhere quick. Setting up camp would be even better." Kili continued. He sounded worried and scared. He was saying as if it was a statement. As if they didn't have another choice. What could be wrong anyway?! Just when he was thinking that his eyes landed on the small bundle in Kili's arms and his eyes widened when he saw all the blood that was on the brown coat that Tyko was wearing. He cursed and yelled at the company to find a place to camp as soon as possible. When the company raised their eyebrows at him he just gestured to the small bundle in Kili's arms called Tyko. They all let out gasps and started searching for a place to set up camp. It was quite strange that no one had looked back when Kili had called Thorin's name. They would've known why they were stopping if they did, but oh well.

Camp was set up quickly. Someone placed his heavy coat on the ground and Kili placed Tyko carefully on top of it. Little Tyko seemed to drown in the big furry coat. They would've found it cute if they weren't staring at the blood on the coat at the moment. They were all scared and worried and it got even worse when Gloin carefully took the brown coat of Tyko. Everyone just stared at Tyko for a moment before they were brought out of their trance by Oin who'd clicked his tong annoyed and started treating his wounds carefully.

"What have you gotten yourself into Tyko." Oin said and continued to clean his wounds carefully.

"What is the damage..?" Thorin said carefully.

Oin looked at Tyko carefully and said: "Well.."

**Ok that was mean now wasn't it. XD Not updating for so long and then when I do update I only write a short chapter and leave it hanging on a cliff hanger. But ah well. I don't have any time left that's why it's so short. Maybe I'll continue writing this tomorrow. I've been on a roll these last few days. :p I posted two new stories. Take a look if you're interested.**

**Leave a review if you have any ideas, comments, questions or something else.**

**Anyway I hope you enjoyed it and sorry for not updating for so long. See ya next time. Oh and no worries. Even if I won't update for a very long time I'll always continue the story. I to want to finish the stories I started so no need to worry.**

**Bye,**

**zuppercat**


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